Hi Hugh,
I, too, vote to do nothing but clean and polish her up a bit and enjoy a gun with some rare history.
In J. Walter's book, "The Luger Book" on pages 246-247; he mentions the 1936's contract of Masuer Banner P-08's and LP-08's that went into service for the Thailand police department.
Typical on these contract lugers is the stylized lion's head and three characters for an issue-number on the back of the frame, above the landyard staple.
Your gun has the stylized lion and three characters. Your's probably look a little different than those of George's luger...since the two guns would have a different set of issue-numbers.
Yours is very rare and interesting since it is a 1920's Dutch luger from Indonesia that found its way to Siam/Thailand...
Since the Siam Mauser contract occurred in the 1936's era, your luger may have found its way into Thai hands before WWII and the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese. Maybe it found its way there through regular channels of trade and commerce or via a black-market route...??? Just WAG's...
p.s. Cannot tell from the photo, but does your barrel have a "GS" barrel replacement date ? If yes, what is that date ? This date would date-stamp your Vickers luger being in Dutch/Indonesian control up to that date, at least.
Regards,
Pete.. <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />
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